Unified command and control of a multiplicity of heterogeneous systems supporting call center functionality

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are provided for operating a plurality of call center products. The method includes the steps of providing an enterprise administration server and disposing a respective terminal adapter between the enterprise administration server and each of the plurality of call center products. The method further includes the steps of a terminal adapter of a call center of the plurality of call center products receiving a database instruction from the enterprise administration server; the terminal adapter mapping a database instruction between a protocol of the enterprise administration server and a protocol of the call center product and the call center product executing the instruction.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates to communication systems and moreparticularly to contact centers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Call centers are generally known. Call centers are typically usedwherever an organization has occasion to handle a multitude ofindividual contacts with clients. Usually, the organization will hire anumber of agents to interact with clients.

Contacts between the organization and clients may be handled under anyof a number of different communication mediums. For example, contactsmay be initiated through the public switch telephone network (PSTN) by aclient calling a telephone number provided by the organization.Alternatively, the organization may place telephone calls to itsclients. In either case, connection of the telephone call with an agentmay be handled by an automatic call distributor (ACD).

Similarly, contacts with clients through the Internet may be handled bya host of a contact center. Contacts in this case may be handled under avoice format (e.g., VoIP) or under a text format (e.g., e-mail, chat,etc.).

Once a call is detected, the ACD may select an agent to handle the call.The agent may be selected based upon qualifications in handling the typeof call involved, based upon experience with the client involved orbased upon idle time. Once an agent is selected, the ACD mayautomatically route the call to a telephone of the selected agent.

As the contact is delivered to the agent, a host of the contact centermay retrieve any records associated with previous contacts with theclient and deliver those records to the selected agent as a screen popat the same instant that the contact is delivered. If the host candetermine a purpose of the call, the host may also display text on theterminal of the selected agent containing a message to be delivered tothe client.

SUMMARY

A method and apparatus are provided for operating a plurality ofdissimilar call center products. The method includes the steps ofproviding an enterprise administration server and disposing a respectiveterminal adapter between the enterprise administration server and eachof the plurality of dissimilar call center products. The method furtherincludes the steps of a terminal adapter of a call center product of theplurality of dissimilar call center products receiving a databaseinstruction from the enterprise administration server, the terminaladapter mapping a database instruction between a protocol of theenterprise administration server and a protocol of the call centerproduct and the call center product executing the instruction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a call center system in accordance with an illustratedembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT

While call centers work well, they are constantly evolving and, in somecases, require replacement or expansion. When a call center made by afirst call center provider must be replaced or expanded, theorganization will often consider and may, in fact, purchase a callcenter from a competitor for use with existing, legacy call centersbecause of a lower price.

However, call center products from competitors often do not work welltogether because of differing operating philosophies, hardware andsoftware. Because of the importance of call centers, a need exists forbetter method of coordinating the operation of call center productsprovided by competitors.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a call center system shown generally inaccordance with an illustrated embodiment of the invention. Includedwithin the call center system is an administration system (admin system)10 for administering operation of a number of dissimilar call centers12, 14 of the call center system. While FIG. 1 shows only two callcenters 12, 14, it should be understood that the call center system ofFIG. 1 may include any number of call centers 12, 14. Moreover, the term“dissimilar call centers” should be understood to mean call centers thatdo not share the same command and control structure. For example, aFirst Point Spectrum ACD call center made during the late 1990s does notuse the same command and control structure as an Aspect ACD made duringthe same time period.

Under the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the admin system 10 includesan admin server 16 coupled to the call centers 12, 14 through theInternet 24 and a respective terminal adapter 18, 20. One or moreadministrative persons (users) working through a terminal (the personand terminal together hereinafter referred to as an “admin user”) 22 mayaccess a website 17 of the server 16 through the Internet 24. Theoperation of the call centers 12, 14 may be controlled through theactivities of an administrative user 22 through the server 16. While theadmin user 22 and server 16 are shown connected through the Internet 24,the admin user 22 may be co-located and be directly connected to theserver 16.

While the call centers 12, 14 may be different in structure andoperation, the use of the terminal adapters 18, 20 allows the system ofFIG. 1 to be operated as if it were one large call center. Moreover, theserver 16 may have a completely different control structure than any ofthe call centers 12, 14 where there is nothing in common among the callcenters 12, 14. This allows the server 16 to operate under a “best ofbreed” philosophy where the terminal adapters 18, 20 accommodate anydifferences.

The architecture of the admin system 10 is simple, scalable, andextensible. In simple conceptual terms, the admin system 10 sits on topof existing administrative interface applications and databases of thecall centers 12, 14. “Sitting on top of” means that the administrativeinterfaces and databases of the call centers 12, 14 do not rely upon theadmin system 10 for proper operation. The admin system 10 uses theinterfaces of the call systems 12, 14 to read data from their databasesand to write changes into them, but it does not attempt to replace them.Instead, the admin system 10 acts as a web wrapper, providing a unifiedview of administrative data, but not requiring any changes to theexisting systems 12, 14. As much as possible, admin system 10 simplyacts as another client to the current administrative interfaces of thecall centers 12, 14, which allows existing administrative tools tocontinue working independently, particularly in the case where theconnection of the call centers 12, 14 with the admin system 10 is lost.

In effect, the admin system 10 controls the call centers 12, 14 bychanging the data within the databases of the call centers 12, 14. Thishas the advantage that the call centers 12, 14 function properly withoutany other input or control from the admin system 10. If the admin system10 should malfunction or otherwise become inoperative, then data may beentered directly through existing admin services available within thecall centers 12, 14.

Since the server 16 merely changes data within the call centers 12, 14,there is no limit to the number of servers 16 within the system ofFIG. 1. While one is shown in FIG. 1, the system of FIG. 1 may containtwo or more.

The ability to read data from the call centers 12, 14 allows resourcesto be shared among call centers 12, 14. For example, the entire list ofagents 54, 56, 58, 60 may be visible through the server 16. However,some agents may be better skilled than others. In these cases, someagents may be shared among call center products and centers and some maynot be shared.

In general, the call centers 12, 14 may rely upon a number of databaseinterfaces. In one embodiment, five administrative interfaceapplications may be used. The five are: 1) a work force management (WFM)interface 22, 30; 2) a call center management interface 24, 32; 3) aquality management interface 26, 34), 4) a directory access protocol(DAP) interface 28, 36 and 5) a reporting database interface 66, 68. TheWFM interface 22, 30 provides access to a WFM database 23, 31 within thecall center 12, 14 and is used by a WFM application within therespective call centers 12, 14. The WFM application operates on a firstlevel to maintain a list of signed-in agents and also to predict a workforce (e.g., the number of agents) needed during any one time periodbased upon historical records and current predictions. The WFM may alsomonitor call queues of each agent group to determine how long callsremain in queue for the group and other statistics about agentperformance. Other statistics may include calls per hour, abandonedcalls, average call handling time, identifiers of agent groups and anidentifier of each agent assigned to each of the identified agentgroups.

The call center management interface 24, 32 provides access to a callmanagement database 25, 33 within each respective call center 12, 14.The call management database 25, 33 is used by a call managementapplication to maintain a list of agents and the qualification of eachagent. The call management application may also be used to select agentsto handle calls based upon any appropriate method (e.g., agent idletime, agent skill, etc.). The call management application may also trackagent availability.

The quality management interface 26, 34 provides access to a qualitymanagement database 27, 35 within each of the respective call centers12, 14. The quality management database 27, 35 is used by a qualitymanagement application to record calls and other data about callhandling by agents.

The directory access protocol interface 28, 36 provides access to adirectory access protocol database, 29, 37. The directory accessprotocol database 29, 37 may be accessed by a lightweight directoryaccess protocol (LDAP) to provide access control to the call centers 12,14. The directory access protocol database contains a list of users,passwords and access rights of each user.

The reporting interface 66, 68 provides access to a report database 67,69 (e.g., viewpoint, datamart, etc). The report databases 67, 69 maycollect data regarding any of a number of call center operations (e.g.,agent performance, call statistics, etc.). Reporting data may becollected from other interfaces 22, 30; 24, 32; 26, 34; 28, 36 or may begenerated independently.

Located within the server 16 may be a respective workforce managementapplication (WFMA) 38, a call center management application (CCMA) 40, aquality management application (QMA) 42, a data access protocolapplication (DAPA) 44 and a reporting application 70. Each of theapplications 38, 40, 42, 44, 70 are accessible by the admin user 22through the website 17. The applications 38, 40, 42, 44, 70 serve atleast some of the same function as the respective applications 22, 30;24, 32; 26, 34; 28, 36; 66, 68 of the call centers 12, 14 except that atleast some of the respective applications of the call centers 12, 14operate under a different protocol than the respective applications 38,40, 42, 44, 70 of the admin server 16.

The applications 38, 40, 42, 44, 70 of the server 16 differ from thecorresponding applications 22, 30; 24, 32; 26, 34; 28, 36; 66, 68 of thecall centers 12, 14 in that they operate over a larger database and,therefore, can achieve economies of scale and efficiency that are notpossible by the call centers 12, 14 working in isolation. For example,the applications 38, 40, 42, 44, 70 have the ability to handle all callsand all agents as if they were part of a single integrated call centerlocated in a single location. The server 16 is able to accomplish thisbecause it is able to match any call with any agent using methods thatare described in more detail below.

In general, access to the call centers 12, 14 by the applications 38,40, 42, 44, 70 of the server 16 is provided through a respectiveterminal adapter 18, 20. In each case, instructions from theapplications 38, 40, 42, 44, 70 are executed on the call centers 12, 14by mapping the instructions from the protocol of the server 16 to therespective protocols of the call centers 12, 14 within a mappingprocessor 66 of the respective terminal adapters 18, 20. Once aninstruction from an application 38, 40, 42, 44, 70 has been mapped tothe appropriate protocol, the instruction may be executed by therespective database interfaces 22, 30; 24, 32; 26, 34; 28, 36; 66, 68.

Instructions from the server 16 to the call centers 12, 14 may involveand cause a change to the respective databases 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33,35, 37, 63, 65, 67, 69 of the call center 12, 14 or may be a request fordata from the database. Where the request is for data, the databaseinterface 22, 30; 24, 32; 26, 34; 28, 36; 66, 68 may retrieve therequested data and compose a message to send the requested data back tothe requester.

As the data message is returned, the message may arrive at the terminaladapter 18, 20 providing the original instruction. In response, theterminal adapter 18, 20 may reformat the data message into a format ofthe admin server 16.

Included within the admin server 16 may be one or more databases 46, 48,50, 52, 72 that correspond to the applications 38, 40, 42, 44, 70. Underone illustrated embodiment, all or a portion of the data within therespective databases 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 67, 69 associatedwith the call centers 12, 14 may be substantially duplicated withinrespective databases 46, 48, 50, 52, 72 of the admin server 16. In thisregard, data from WFM databases 23, 31 may be merged with thecorresponding WFM database 46 to form a consolidated database of WFMinformation. Similarly, data from the CCM databases 25, 33 may be mergedin CCM database 48, data from QMI databases 27, 35 may be merged in QMIdatabase 50, data from DAP databases 29, 37 may be merged in DAPdatabase 52 and data from the reporting databases 67, 69 may be mergedin reporting database 72. This may be accomplished by the application22, 30; 24, 32; 26, 34; 28, 36 associated with the database interfacestracking and forwarding the changes or by the applications 38, 40, 42,44 periodically requesting such data.

By having a duplicate of the data within the call centers 12, 14, theadmin server 16 is able to control the overall allocation of resourceswithin the call center system 11. For example, agents 54, 56 may bephysically connected to call center 12 and agents 58, 60 may bephysically connected to call center 14. However, agents 54, 56, 58, 60may be shared by all call centers 12, 14. The sharing of agents amongcall centers 12, 14 is important because loading is not always equalamong call centers. In addition, not all agents have equal skills.Agents 54, 56, 58, 60 with greater skills are often put to greater usewhen shared among a larger client base.

However, the design supports an embodiment where the database is notreplicated in the admin server and instead, it relies upon the callcenter product databases to be the only persistent storage of theirdata.

Under one illustrated embodiment, the call center management application40 may control agent assignment among the call centers 12, 14. In thiscase, the call management database 48 may receive or retrieve a list ofavailable agents 54, 56, 58, 60 from each call center 12, 14 along witha list of agent qualifications. To control agent assignment, the callmanagement application 40 may initially download an agent occupied flagto the call management database 25, 33 of each call center 12, 14listing each agent 54, 56, 58, 60 as occupied by other calls.

As each call 62 is received at a call center (e.g., call center 12), thecall management application 40 may detect the arrival of the call 62 viathe creation of a call arrival file in the call management database 25of the call center 12 and the forwarding of that file to the database 48of the admin server 16. In response, the call management application 40may compare the requirements of each call 62 with a list of agent skillsin the database 48 and may select an agent (e.g., agent 54) to handlethe call 62. Once the call management application 40 has selected theagent 54, the call management application 40 may download an instructionto clear the agent occupied flag for the agent 54. The instruction istransferred from the admin server 16 to the terminal adapter 18 wherethe instruction is mapped to the protocol used by the call center 12.The mapped instruction is then transferred to the call center managementinterface application 24 that, in turn, clears the agent occupied flagfor the selected agent 54 within the database 25.

Since the other agents associated of the call center 12 were previouslyshown as occupied, the call management application 24 of call center 12had been in a wait state for an available agent 54, 56 following arrivalof the call 62. However, once the call management application 40downloads the instruction to clear the agent occupied flag for agent 54,the call management application of the call center 12 would detect theavailability of agent 54, select agent 54 and transfer the call to agent54.

Once the call management application within the call center 12 hasselected agent 54 to handle the call 62, the call management applicationof the call center 12 would again set the agent occupied flag for agent54 within the database 25. The call management application 40 within theadmin server 16 would detect the setting of this flag as confirmation ofassignment of the call 62 to the agent 54.

Once the agent 54 had completed the call, the agent 54 would activate acall release softkey on his terminal 54. In response, the callmanagement application within the call center 12 would detect activationof the softkey and clear the agent occupied flag for the agent 54.

The call management application 40 would detect clearing of the agentoccupied flag for the agent 54 as indication that the agent 54 was againavailable. In response, the call management application 40 would againimmediately send another instruction setting the agent occupied flag foragent 54 to the call center 12.

As another example, another call 62 may be received by the call center12. Since all the agents 54, 56 are shown as previously occupied, thecall management application within the call center 12 enters a waitstate.

For this new call 62, the call management application 40 may detect thecall and select agent 60 to handle the call. In this case, it may beassumed that the call centers 12, 14 contain a list of all agents 54,56, 58, 60 and the ability to transfer calls among call centers 12, 14.

As a first step, the call management application 40 transfers aninstruction to the call center 12 instructing the call center 12 totransfer the call 62 to the other call center 13. Alternatively, thecall center 12 may have the ability to detect idle agents at the othercall center 14 and transfer calls upon detection of an idle agent. Inthis situation, the call management application 40 transfers aninstruction to the call center 14 clearing the agent occupied flag forthe selected agent 60. The call management application of the first callcenter 12 detects the availability of agent 60 and transfers the call tothe second call center 14. The second call center assigns the call tothe agent 60 in a manner similar to the previous example.

Under another illustrated embodiment, an admin user 22 may access theworkforce management application 38 within the admin server 16. Byaccessing the workforce management application 38, the user 22 can viewthe overall workforce status of the system of FIG. 1.

For example, on a first screen, the user 22 may view a list of agents54, 56, 58, 60 logged into the system of FIG. 1. On another screen, theuser can view the performance of each call center 12, 14. Morespecifically, the availability of data from the WFM database 23 allowsthe admin user 22 to view such performance statistics such as averagedelay to answer, the average call handling time, schedule adherencemetrics, etc. By viewing performance statistics, such as call queues,the admin user 22 has the ability to determine whether the call centers12, 14 are performing at an optimum level, are overloaded or are underutilized.

Moreover, where the admin user 22 should detect that a call center 12,14 is overloaded, the admin user 22 may simply log onto the call centermanagement application 40 and transfer agents. For example, if a firstset of agents 54, 58 were assigned to a first agent group (group “A”)and a second set of agents 56, 60 were assigned to a second agent group(group “B”) and group A were overloaded, then the admin user 22 couldreassign agents as needed. In this example, the admin user 22 would loginto the call center management application 40 and select group B anddelete agent 60. The admin user 22 may then select group A and add agent60. In both cases, the deletion and addition steps would cause aninstruction to be generated by the call center management application 40that would be transferred to and executed by the call centers 12, 14.

In another embodiment, the admin user 22 may activate a qualitymanagement application 42. In this case, the admin user 22 may bepresented with a screen where the user 22 can select agents 54, 56, 58,60 to record for quality assurance purposes or where the user 22 canreview previously made recordings of agents 54, 56, 58, 60. In the casewhere the user 22 wishes to designate an agent 54, 56, 58, 60 forrecording, the user may enter an identifier of the agent 54, 56, 58, 60.Upon activating an ENTER softkey on the terminal 22, the qualitymanagement application 42 downloads an instruction to the qualitymanagement interface 26, 34 for entry of the identifier of the agent 54,56, 58, 60 into a recording list within the quality management database27, 35.

Alternatively, the instruction entered by the admin user 22 may havebeen a playback instruction. In this case, the quality managementapplication 42 may simply retrieve the recording from the qualitymanagement database 50 and play the recording for the benefit of theuser 22.

In another illustrated embodiment, the admin user 22 may access a dataaccess protocol application 44. In this case, the admin user 22 may bepresented with a screen where the user 22 may add or delete users orchange access rights and privileges. For example, the user 22 may enteran identifier of an agent 54 and activate an ENTER softkey. In response,the data access protocol application 44 may present the admin user 22with a screen of current access rights of the agent 54. The user 22 mayamend the access rights or even delete the agent 54. In response, thedata access protocol application 44 may generate an instruction that isforwarded to the data access protocol interface 28 saving the changesmade by the admin user 22.

In another embodiment, the user 22 may access a list of call handlingscripts located in a call management database 25, 33 of one of the callcenters 12, 14. In this regard, each call handling script may define aset of steps for handling a contact received by the call centers 12, 14.For example, in the case where the call is a telephone call receivedthrough the PSTN, the call handling script may include the steps ofretrieving DNIS and ANI information associated with the received callfrom the PSTN. The DNIS may be used for selecting an agent 54, 56, 58,60 to handle the call. ANI may be used to identify the caller and toretrieve any records of past contacts with the caller for presentationto the agent selected to handle the call using a screen pop.

Upon accessing the list of call handling scripts, the user 22 may selectand download a script. Once downloaded, the user 22 may modify thescript by adding or deleting steps. For example, the user 22 maydetermine that calls from a particular geographic location may requireselection of an agent fluent in Spanish. In order to accommodate thisneed, the user 22 may include a requirement that any agent selected tohandle calls from this geographic origin be required to speak Spanish.

Alternatively, the user 22 may create a new script intended to initiatecalls as part of a call campaign directed to a specific marketingobjective. In this regard, the user 22 may incorporate by reference ormay directly incorporate a list of telephone numbers of call targets.The user 22 may include a set of agent qualifications to handle eachcall of the call campaign. The user 22 may also create text to be readby the agent to the client as part of the call campaign. The user 22 mayattach the text to the script and include the step of presenting thetext to a selected agent as a screen pop when a call associated with thecampaign is connected to an agent.

In either case, the user 22 may incorporate the new or modified scriptinto a call routing file to be downloaded to one or more of the callcenters 12, 14. It should be noted in this regard that the terminaladapters 18, 20 would be required to perform a number of additionalsteps with regard to scripts. The additional steps would be required, inthis case, because the downloaded script would not be executed by theterminal adapter 18, 20, but that would still need to be converted intoa form that would be understood by the call center managementapplication 24, 32.

To download the file, the user 22 would enter an identifier of one ormore target call centers 12, 14. In this case, the target adapter 18, 20may receive the downloaded script and reference a set of mappinginstructions 64 to convert from a script used by the call centermanagement application 40 to a script that would be understandable bythe call center management application 24, 32 of the call center 12, 14.Once converted, the converted script is downloaded to the appropriatecall center 12, 14.

A specific embodiment of method and apparatus for controlling a group ofdissimilar call centers has been described for the purpose ofillustrating the manner in which the invention is made and used. Itshould be understood that the implementation of other variations andmodifications of the invention and its various aspects will be apparentto one skilled in the art, and that the invention is not limited by thespecific embodiments described. Therefore, it is contemplated to coverthe present invention and any and all modifications, variations, orequivalents that fall within the true spirit and scope of the basicunderlying principles disclosed and claimed herein.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a plurality ofdissimilar call centers that have different command and controlstructures comprising: providing an enterprise administration servercoupled to the call centers using administrative interfaces of the callcenters to read data from and write changes to databases of the callcenters and functioning as a client of the administrative interfaceswhile allowing existing administrative tools of the call centers to workindependently of the enterprise administration server; disposing aplurality of terminal adapters between the enterprise administrationserver and at least some of the plurality of dissimilar call centerssuch that each terminal adapter of the plurality of terminal adapters iscoupled to a respective call center of the plurality of dissimilar callcenters; a terminal adapter of the plurality of terminal adaptersreceiving a database instruction from the enterprise administrationserver; the terminal adapter mapping a database instruction between aprotocol of the enterprise administration server and a protocol of therespective call center; and the respective call center executing theinstruction such that the enterprise administration server controls therespective call center by changing database data in the respective callcenter to control the respective call center without replacing databasesof any of the plurality of dissimilar call centers.
 2. The method ofoperating the call centers as in claim 1 further comprising coupling theenterprise administration server to at least some of the plurality ofdissimilar call centers through the Internet using a secure socket layerto encrypt exchanges.
 3. The method of operating the call centers as inclaim 1 wherein the executed instruction further comprises a request fordata from the call center.
 4. The method of operating the call centersas in claim 3 wherein the requested data further comprises reportingapplication data from the call center and workforce management data. 5.The method of operating the call centers as in claim 1 furthercomprising the enterprise administration server downloading to theplurality of the call centers an agent occupied flag for each agent ofeach call center to list each agent as occupied, detecting arrival of acall at a receiving call center of the plurality of the call centers,the enterprise administration server selecting an agent to handle thecall, and downloading an instruction from the enterprise administrationserver to the receiving call center to clear the agent occupied flag forthe selected agent to allow assignment of the selected agent to the callby the receiving call center.
 6. The method of operating the callcenters as in claim 4 wherein the workforce management data furthercomprises at least some of the group consisting of agents logged in,identifiers of agent groups and an identifier of each agent assigned toeach of the identified agent groups.
 7. The method of operating the callcenters as in claim 4 further comprising merging data received from theplurality of dissimilar call centers by data type and source into adatabase of the enterprise administration server.
 8. The method ofoperating the call centers as in claim 7 wherein the data type furthercomprises at least some of the group consisting of calls per hour,abandoned calls, average call handling time, average time in queue,agents logged in, identifiers of agent groups and an identifier of eachagent assigned to each of the identified agent groups.
 9. The method ofoperating the call centers as in claim 1 wherein the enterpriseadministration server further comprises a website for accessing thedatabases of the respective call centers of the plurality of dissimilarcall centers.
 10. The method of operating the call centers as in claim 9wherein the website further comprises a plurality of applications foraccessing consolidated data within the database.
 11. The method ofoperating the call centers as in claim 10 wherein the plurality ofapplications further comprise an application selected from the groupconsisting of a reporting application, a workforce managementapplication, a call control application, a quality managementapplication and a data access protocol application.
 12. The method ofoperating the call centers as in claim 1 wherein the executedinstruction further comprises a request for a call routing script fromthe call center.
 13. The method of operating the call centers as inclaim 12 further comprising modifying the call routing script anddownloading the modified call routing script to the call center.
 14. Themethod of operating the call centers as in claim 1 wherein the executedinstruction further comprises a reassignment of an agent among callgroups within the call center.
 15. Apparatus for operating a pluralityof dissimilar call centers having different command and controlstructures comprising: means for providing enterprise administrationcoupled to the call centers using administrative interfaces of the callcenters to read data from and write changes to databases of the callcenters to function as a client of administrative interfaces of the callcenters while allowing existing administrative tools of the call centersto work independently of the enterprise administration server; aplurality of terminal adapters disposed between the enterpriseadministration means and at least some of the plurality of dissimilarcall centers such that each terminal adapter of the plurality ofterminal adapters is coupled to a respective call center of theplurality of dissimilar call centers; means within each terminal adapterof the plurality of terminal adapters for mapping a database instructionbetween a protocol of the enterprise administration means and a protocolof the respective call center; and means within each respective callcenter for executing the instruction such that the enterpriseadministration means controls the respective call center by changingdatabase data in the respective call center to control the respectivecall center without replacing databases of any of the plurality ofdissimilar call centers.
 16. The apparatus for operating the callcenters as in claim 15 further comprising means for coupling theenterprise administration server to at least some of the plurality ofdissimilar call centers through the Internet using a secure socket layerto encrypt exchanges.
 17. The apparatus for operating the call centersas in claim 15 wherein the executed instruction further comprises arequest for data from the call center.
 18. The apparatus for operatingthe call centers as in claim 17 wherein the requested data furthercomprises reporting application data from the call center.
 19. Theapparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 18 wherein therequested data further comprises a request for workforce managementdata.
 20. The apparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 19wherein the workforce management data further comprises at least some ofthe group consisting of agents logged in, identifiers of agent groupsand an identifier of each agent assigned to each of the identified agentgroups.
 21. The apparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 18further comprising merging data received from the plurality ofdissimilar call centers by data type and source into a database of theenterprise administration server.
 22. The apparatus for operating thecall centers as in claim 21 wherein the data type further comprises atleast some of the group consisting of calls per hour, abandoned calls,average call handling time, average time in queue, agents logged in,identifiers of agent groups and an identifier of each agent assigned toeach of the identified agent groups.
 23. The apparatus for operating thecall centers as in claim 15 wherein the enterprise administration serverfurther comprises a website for accessing the databases of therespective call centers of the plurality of dissimilar call centers. 24.The apparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 23 wherein thewebsite further comprises a plurality of applications for accessing theconsolidate data within the database.
 25. The apparatus for operatingthe call centers as in claim 24 wherein the plurality of applicationsfurther comprise an application selected from the group consisting of areporting application, a workforce management application, a callcontrol application, a quality management application and a data accessprotocol application.
 26. The apparatus for operating the call centersas in claim 15 wherein the executed instruction further comprises arequest for a call routing script from the call center.
 27. Theapparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 26 furthercomprising further comprising means for modifying the call routing scripand downloading the modified call routing script to the call center. 28.The apparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 15 wherein theexecuted instruction further comprises a reassignment of an agent amongcall groups within the call center.
 29. Apparatus for operating aplurality of dissimilar call centers having different command andcontrol protocols comprising: an enterprise administration servercoupled to the call centers using administrative interfaces of the callcenters to read data from and write changes to databases of the callcenters and functioning as a client of the administrative interfaceswhile allowing existing administrative tools of the call centers to workindependently of the enterprise administration server; a plurality ofterminal adapters disposed between the enterprise administration serverand at least some of the plurality of dissimilar call centers such thateach terminal adapter of the plurality of terminal adapters is coupledto a respective call center of the plurality of call centers; a mappingprocessor within each of the terminal adapters that maps a databaseinstruction between a protocol of the enterprise administration serverand a protocol of the respective call center; and a respectiveadministrative interface application within each of the call centers forexecuting the instruction such that the enterprise administration servercontrols the respective call center by changing database data of therespective call center to control the respective call center withoutrequiring replacement of databases of any of the plurality of dissimilarcall centers.
 30. The apparatus for operating the call centers as inclaim 29 wherein the executed instruction further comprises a requestfor data from the call center.
 31. The apparatus for operating the callcenters as in claim 30 wherein the requested data further comprisesreporting application data from the call center.
 32. The apparatus foroperating the call centers as in claim 31 wherein the requested datafurther comprises a request for workforce management data.
 33. Theapparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 32 wherein theworkforce management data further comprises at least some of the groupconsisting of agents logged in, identifiers of agent groups and anidentifier of each agent assigned to each of the identified agentgroups.
 34. The apparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 31further comprising merging data received from the plurality ofdissimilar call centers by data type and source into a database of theenterprise administration server.
 35. The apparatus for operating thecall centers as in claim 34 wherein the data type further comprises atleast some of the group consisting of calls per hour, abandoned calls,average call handling time, average time in queue, agents logged in,identifiers of agent groups and an identifier of each agent assigned toeach of the identified agent groups.
 36. The apparatus for operating thecall centers as in claim 29 wherein the enterprise administration serverfurther comprises a website for accessing the databases of therespective call centers of the plurality of dissimilar call centers. 37.The apparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 36 wherein thewebsite further comprises a plurality of applications for accessing theconsolidate data within the database.
 38. The apparatus for operatingthe call centers as in claim 37 wherein the plurality of applicationsfurther comprise an application selected from the group consisting of areporting application, a workforce management application, a callcontrol application, a quality management application and a data accessprotocol application.
 39. The apparatus for operating the call centersas in claim 29 wherein the executed instruction further comprises arequest for a call routing script from the call center.
 40. Theapparatus for operating the call centers as in claim 39 furthercomprising further comprising a set of mapping instructions that modifythe call routing script and download the modified call routing script tothe call center.
 41. The apparatus for operating the call centers as inclaim 29 wherein the executed instruction further comprises areassignment of an agent among call groups within the call center.